School Sucks
by Fidere
Summary: AU. It's the typical story. Two friends grow up together and are as close as two friends can be. Then one day something changes and they find themselves growing closer in ways they had never considered before.
1. Damn

One day in the middle of class in which I had nothing to do I started writing and it was basically a rant of why school sucks. Somehow I took that and am now turning it into a fic. It seems like a strange source of inspiration, I know, but it seems to work.

Disclaimer: Did Orochimaru keel over and die? Did Sasuke get over his prick phase and return to Konoha? Did all the Akatsuki members spontaneously combust? No? Then I don't own Naruto.

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Damn. Another day of school. One more to add to the pile of time wasted. How many more days of this? 106? 105? Something like that. I make a mental note to ask Naruto. He's been counting down since the first day of school. I can't understand why he would want to know when it's such a depressingly high number.

Digging my hands deeper into my coat pockets I watch as the sigh I make turns into a cloud of steam in front of my face. I hate the cold. Unfortunately, I have to put up with it for a couple months yet. Still, there's only a few more weeks until Christmas break. Maybe I can convince everyone else to spend it somewhere with a decent temperature. Somewhere in the high 70's at the least.

Quickly, I weave through the crowd heading for the front doors of the high school in hopes of reaching its heat that much sooner. I slow my pace as the warmth from inside the building washes over me. There is still 15 minutes till class starts. Groups of people are standing throughout the hall and I nod toward the ones that give me a wave or a greeting. And people tell me I'm not friendly enough.

"Sasuke! Oh Sasuke, wait up!" Turning in the direction of the voice that called me I see a girl running towards me, waving a flier in her hand. She's got to be at least six inches shorter than me with blond hair that's been tied back into a ponytail.

Seems innocent enough, right? Well not when you calculate in two alarming facts. 1. She's wearing a red Santa hat with bunches of holly pinned to the sides. 2. She has a large pin on her sweater shaped like a Christmas tree that says in big letters "Santa's little helper". Instantly I recognize the warning signs of a "Christmas cheer pusher" - you know the ones that feel it's their purpose in life to stuff Christmas related activities down the throats of every person who doesn't want it. But it's too late for me to run away now, she's already spotted me.

"Good morning Sasuke! How are you?"

It's early, it's cold, and I have to deal with you. "Fine. What do you want?" People really should appreciate the pains I take to be nice.

"Oh well, uh, the cheerleaders are organizing a, like, special event at the Christmas dance. You know about the dance right?" She pauses and looks at me expectantly.

I vaguely recall reading a poster about some kind of dance. It didn't interest me so I didn't pay much attention. Unfortunately, she's still looking at me for a response.

"It's for a charity right?" I prompt. This causes her smile's intensity to go up a few notches. Joy.

"That's right! Our school is raising money for, like, the local homeless shelters. We want to, like, give Christmases to all the under privileged people of Konoha. But a lot of kids aren't interested in going to the dance during break. So we're doing something to, like, promote..."

I smirk slightly. Yeah, kids don't want to give up their break. That's one way of putting it. Really people just don't want to go to some lame-ass party after the Turkey Dance of Thanksgiving was such a disaster. Why do people have to try and make fundraisers so complicated?

"...and so I was wondering if you, like, would be willing to volunteer as a kisser." What the hell?!

"What?! Sorry I zoned out. Could you repeat that?"

"I said we're having an event called The Mistletoe Encounter. We're going to, like, have people pay a dollar to kiss or be kissed by our volunteers under the mistletoe at the dance. Kisses on the cheek only though. So what do you think?"

What do I think!? I think you have got to be kidding me, that's what I think. There's no way in hell I would agree to something like that. I am about to tell her in a rather colorful way to fuck off when a hand lands on my shoulder. What idiot do I have to deal with now? My anger dulls when I see the familiar smile of my best friend.

"Did you hear about this?" I ask him motioning toward the girl in front of me.

"The kissing thing? Yeah I did," Naruto replies. Turning to the elf-wannabe he says, "Don't worry about it. Sakura signed me and Sasuke up already."

"Oh that's great! I should have figured the captain would have asked you guys already. I mean you guys are, like, best friends, right? You always come to, like, our competitions and stuff to help with set up and carrying equipment. You remember me right? I stand in, like, the 3rd position from the left."

"Of course I remember. You're the one who does the triple back flip during that one routine, right?"

"That's right! I can't believe you remember. Well I have to go now. I want to get some more people to, like, sign up. See ya later guys."

With relief I watch her skip, actually skip, over to some other poor saps.

"Do you really have any idea who that was?" I question Naruto skeptically.

"Not a clue. The cheerleaders all look the same to me when they're performing and they all do the same flips. Besides Sakura, I only remember the one. It was...uh...what's-her-name."

Normally I would berate my childhood friend for his lack of intelligence, but at the mention of our pink haired friend I'm distracted. "Naruto," I say with a hint of a threat. "Tell me that what you said about Sakura signing us up was just to get rid of that girl before I scared her to death."

He looks at me innocently and a feeling of dread settles somewhere around my stomach area.

"Well she asked me and I thought it would be kinda fun...and...uh, Sasuke?"

"I don't want to talk to you. I'm going to class." I turn my back and walk away from my annoying, moronic, dipshit of a friend.

"Sasuke. Hey Sasuke! You can't run away from me. We have the same class! We have the same classes all day, you can't avoid me!"

"Don't remind me!" I shoot back. Damn. This is not a good day.

Entering my first class I head to the back of the room. I slide my bag down to the floor next to me as I sit down in the chair behind the desk. Reaching down, I pull out my laptop to begin working on the project I have for this class. My hand automatically presses the power button and I wait for it to start up.

The warning bell rings to signal everyone had better start heading to their classrooms now if they want to make it on time. As I type in my name and password to log in I keep an eye on the door. Usually it's my job to make sure Naruto manages to get to his classes on time because God knows he couldn't do it on his own. However, since I decided I'm no longer talking to the idiot, I'll have to make an excuse to the teacher if he doesn't get here in time. Hm, what story should I make up to tell him? Whatever, I'll just tell him Naruto had to get something from his locker for me.

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Jeesh, Sasuke sure is cranky in the morning. Actually, he's pretty cranky in the afternoon, too. And most of the evening. Heck the only time he can manage to be a completely decent human being is at night. He must be nocturnal or something.

I finish making my way to my locker, which is where I was going before I ran into Sasuke, and dump my coat in it while at the same time pulling out my favorite hoodie from its hook. It's orange with this cool red spiral on the front over my stomach. Lastly, I pull out the books I will need. Hopefully I didn't have any homework because I definitely didn't do any.

The warning bell rings telling everyone there's five minutes till class starts. Usually it's Sasuke's job to make sure I manage to get to my classes on time because God knows I couldn't do it on my own. For some reason my internal clock is a bit slow so I'm always late for stuff. However, since he's decided to no longer talk to me I'll have to make sure I make it on time by myself. That means no stopping to talk to anyone. It sucks, but having to listen to that jerk make fun of me for not being able to get to class on time without him would suck a lot more.

Once I get to my first hour class (which I got to with two whole minutes to spare - in your face Sasuke) I head to the back of the room. Behind the rows of desks there is a single table with a glaring Sasuke sitting at it. Ignoring the glare, I smile at the uptight prick.

"I'm still not talking to you," he says before I can get a word out. Mentally I sigh, but I don't show any signs that his words have had an effect. I knew I would have to work on him to go along with the whole mistletoe thing and I wish I could have been the one to tell him and not little Miss I'm-(not-so)-secretly-lusting-over-the-idea-of-Sasuke-kissing-me.

"Come on Sasuke," I plead. "It'll be fun."

"When have I ever considered dance-related activities fun?" he retorts. "I don't dance."

"OK- ya got me there. But still, this in no way involves dancing so it could still be fun."

"No. It involves physical contact with a large number of people. Everything I hate about dances."

Before I can argue with him more, the bell rings. Time to use my trump card.

"Look, I promised Sakura we would do it. Half the girls who have signed up have requested one of us. If you want to be the one to ruin her event go ahead. You'll probably survive the beating. But consider this - all those girls who have been drooling over the thought of getting a kiss from you won't be pleased when they're denied their chance. Most of them will decide to take matters into their own hands. Do you really want to be gang raped by a bunch of sex deprived girls?"

After giving my little speech I turn to go to my seat. However, I'm stopped by his hand gripping my arm. Turning back to face him, I see the most hysterical mixture of shock and horror on his face. I knew he would see things my way eventually - he always does.

"I only have to kiss them on the cheek right? Nothing else?" he asks me with a hint of desperation. I decide to take pity on him.

"That's right. Heck, if you charm them enough you might be able to get away with a kiss on the hand or something," I say soothingly.

"Fine," he replies letting go of my arm. "But we are so going some place warm."

I have no idea what he's talking about, but Mr. Iwashi walks in so I go and sit down. I have journalism first thing so there's no need to pay much attention. The only reason I'm taking this pointless class is because I need English credits. Mr. Iwashi, our teacher, gave us a book at the beginning of the year with a bunch of worksheets in it. He spends the first five minutes going over what we did last class and assigning us stuff for this class. Then we have the rest of class to do whatever. Sasuke made me finish a bunch of the worksheets ahead of schedule so I wouldn't have to do anything in class for awhile. He should catch up to what I have done sometime in March.

Once the teacher finishes his short lecture and hides behind his newspaper at his desk, I get up to see what Sasuke is doing. Sasuke isn't really a part of this class. Technically he should be able to graduate because he's already earned all his required credits. Unfortunately for him there's some requirement that you actually have four years of high school or something. Since he took all the AP classes last year, there was really nothing left for him to take his senior year. So he worked it out with the principal and now he takes a bunch of independent study classes. That's why he has the same classes as me.

"Whatcha workin' on?" I ask him as I turn the chair next to him and straddle the seat so I can rest my arms on the back.

"Still not talking to you," he tells me in an annoying I-don't-really-hate-you-but-I-sure-as-hell-am-gunna-act-like-it voice and goes back to typing on his laptop.

"Well fine then, be a butt." I stare at the ceiling for a moment then look back at His Highness, King of the Icy Bastards. "Are you done not talking to me yet?"

"No," he says without pausing in his typing. More staring.

"How 'bout now?" He stops typing and turns to face me.

"You know my life was a lot less frustrating before you came along and started making me do stupid stuff."

"Yeah, what are friends for?"

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Do you have any idea how hard it is not to talk to Naruto when he wants you to talk to him? Trust me it's impossible - save yourself the aggravation and don't try. After years of practice I still can't completely ignore the idiot and I am a master at ignoring people if I do say so myself.

After listening to him for over an hour as he told me in excruciating detail about the dream he had last night I finally caved. Hey, you would have cracked too if you had to listen to someone talk about trying to teach talking cherries to tap dance for an hour. I take consolation in the fact that most people wouldn't have even lasted an hour.

Naruto already left for our next class, but I have to stop at my locker. When I reach it, I drop off my coat. It always takes me a couple hours to get used to the school's heating so I need my coat to keep me warm in the meantime. Adjusting the messenger bag that is carrying my laptop, I start to head to class.

"Hey Sasuke," a girl surrounded by a group of friends calls. "What does your shirt say today?"

This may seem like an odd question, but the majority of my shirts say something. It all started on my fourteenth birthday. I guess it's hard to figure out what to get a kid for his birthday at that age and clothes are a safe bet. If I'm not mistaken I received 24 different shirts, each with its own sarcastic saying printed on it. Over the years my collection has grown and it has become something of a tradition around school to see what "quote of the day" my top proclaims.

I silently turn toward the girl who addressed me to give her a better view. Today I'm wearing a black T-shirt over a white long sleeved shirt. The T-shirt says in bold, white letters "Rehab is for quitters."

The girl's friends all break out in spontaneous twittering that I think is supposed to pass for laughter. It's obvious they are all freshmen who can't believe their friend was acknowledged by the Great Sasuke. I have a very low tolerance for people like that, so I finish walking to class.

Thank God for block scheduling¹. I love only having to deal with four classes in a day. Sure those classes are an hour and a half long, but I only have the class every other day. On top of that I have co-op and dual enrollment² so I really only have three classes a day.

"Hey Sasuke! Wait up," someone shouts from across the hall. Damn it. Is it too much to ask to be allowed to walk down a hall without every idiot in the school stopping me? Recognizing the voice I take a small amount of comfort that at least this idiot is sufferable.

"What do you want Kiba?" I spit out to the boy as he runs up to me.

"Well it's nice to see the stick up you ass is still giving you hell," he responds.

I glare at him, but sadly he is one of the few people who have built up immunity to all but my most lethal of glares.

"All right, all right I'll make this quick. Here. Give that to Naruto," he says as he hands me an envelope.

"What is this? Do I look like a messenger boy?" I ask, my irritation increasing quickly.

"Look, I don't know. Sakura asked me to give that to Naruto, but I don't have any classes with him today and I know you guys leave early. So just give it to him, ok? Oh, and tell him I said hi."

Kiba leaves before I can tell him to do it himself. I'd chase after him and make him, but then I would be late for class and there's no way I'm going to be tardy because of that loser.

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When I finally get to the classroom I head over to the conjoined desks Naruto and I share. Throwing the envelope at him, it hits its intended target of the middle of his head.

"Message delivered," I tell him over his cry of indignation.

"What's this?" he asks me.

"I don't know. Something from Sakura," I reply.

A look of comprehension appears on his face. Instead of opening the letter he folds it in half and stuffs it in the back pocket of his black jeans. This causes me to notice that he has taken off his stupid hoodie and tied it around his waist. More importantly is the shirt he was hiding under it the last time I saw him. It's marine blue and says "Always Smile" in black. Underneath that, in smaller text, it says, "It confuses people."

"That's my shirt," I tell him. Not that I would ever wear it. No matter how sarcastic I get I would never encourage smiling. But that's not the point.

"Yeah, so? It's not like you are ever gunna wear it. I rescued it from the back of your closet where it was doomed to never see the light of day. And 'sides it looks better on me anyways."

"That's not the point. It's mine to bury in oblivion if I want. And who says it looks better on you anyways?"

"Lots of people. It's cuz it brings out the color of my eyes so well. See?" He tilts his head up slightly and turns it side to side to get the light over head to show off his eyes.

Well he does have a point; the blue in the shirt brings out all the different shades of blue in his irises. Whatever.

"Fine keep the stupid shirt. It's not like I'd be caught dead wearing it. But keep out of my closet."

"Oh thank you Sasuke," Naruto says in a fake worshipful voice.

Changing the subject I say, "Kiba said hi."

"Oh? How's he doing?" Naruto asks. "How was did his date with Hinata go? That was last weekend right? He didn't blow it did he?"

"It's not like I keep up on that moron's social life. I didn't even talk to him. He just said hi."

Before he can respond, Iruka walks into the class room. Where exactly do the teachers go that prevents them from getting to class on time?

"Sorry I'm late class. I had to make copies and it took longer than I thought," Iruka explains. Well that answers that. "Anyways, I know each of you was taking the extra time to study for the math quiz today," he says with a smile that is scary when paired with the leering look in his eyes.

Cries of dismay and despair erupt from the whole class.

"Iruka didn't mention anything about a quiz last night," Naruto softly hisses at me.

"Don't worry. He's probably just joking to scare people," I whisper back.

"And for those of you who think I'm joking - think again," Iruka says waving the stack of papers in his hand. So I was wrong. It does happen occasionally.

"Aw man, this sucks," Naruto groans.

"Since this is a pop quiz, I'll be fair and let you work on it with a partner if you want," Iruka says as he begins passing out the quizzes. "You can work with whoever you want so long as you both agree to it. I don't want anyone trying to force someone to help them with their test."

"Oh Saaasuke," Naruto drawls out my name. "You'll be my partner, right?" He looks at me pleadingly.

I raise my eyebrow at him. "I'm not even doing the same math as you. Independent study, remember?"

He grabs onto my arm. "But Sasuke!" he protests. "Iruka said we can work with whoever we want. And I want you. Pretty please?"

"You ruined my day, why shouldn't I return the favor?" I ask nonchalantly.

He slides closer to me and clutches my arm tighter. "Come on! You're supposed to be my best friend. If you don't help me out, I'll fail," he pouts.

Really, Naruto is hopeless without me. "All right I'll help you out now, but you owe me one."

His look of desperation melts away to one of joy. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou," he gushes while wrapping his arms around my middle with his head pressed against my chest.

"Uh hm," Iruka coughs in front of us. "Am I interrupting something or can I assume you two are taking the quiz together?"

Nudging Naruto off me, I take the offered examinations. I glare the snickering students around me into silence. Today refuses to be good.

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1. I have block scheduling at my high school and (in my opinion) it really is a lot better than having all my classes in one day.

2. Co-op is when you get to replace a class for working at a job. You're supposed to take a class that relates to the job you're working at. Dual enrollment is taking a college class instead of a regular one, usually when the high school doesn't offer it. Both allow you to leave school early.

So that's it. My new fic. I have mixed feelings about it, but I already have a plan for where I want to end it. Now I just need to figure out how to get there and I'll be good. Please review!


	2. Freedom

Um, yeah. This chapter was done forever ago, but stuff happened and I couldn't post it. Anyways, here it is! Yay!

Disclaimer: Wow I keep forgetting to have one of these. So, yeah, I don't own Naruto.

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Freedom. Finally, I get to leave. It's a good thing too since I wouldn't have been able to handle staying there much longer. People always ask me why I bother with a part time job when I already have enough money to support me for about three lifetimes. This is why.

The feeling I get when I'm driving away from that place is worth any time spent at whatever minimum wage job Naruto has found for us. Knowing that the majority of the student body will have to endure another hour and a half is an added bonus. Especially that worthless shit of a pissant. Hopefully, one of my punches broke something.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto says flatly from the seat next to me in. "I'm going to listen to music, OK?" He makes it sound like he's asking permission, but he is already putting in a cd from the collection he has stored throughout my car.

"Whatever," I respond as he pushes play. "Just don't play it too lo--" My words are drowned out by the blaring notes of the song's introductory chords.

Naruto is already singing and harshly swaying to the music pumping through the speakers and I know from past experience that it's pointless to try and get him to turn it down until he's burned off some extra energy. It freaks me out a little the way his eyes seem to change when he lets the music take over. He told me once that when he gets like that it's like he becomes a different person - someone stronger, more confident, and more reckless.

Usually I have a rule that he has to keep the volume to a minimum when I'm driving because the police like to pull over kids that play their music too loud. However, I let it slide this time since I know how cathartic this is for him. After what happened before, he needs this. By the time we get home he will have calmed down.

I know I should try to calm down too. Right now I have my anger tightly compressed so that I won't do something stupid again, but it won't last forever. Bottling up rage is kind of a family trait and anyone can tell you that when an Uchiha opens that bottle it's best to run in the other direction. Still, at least I got to release some of my frustration on that pisslicker's face. Thinking about what happened brings a dark smirk to my face.

Flashback

"Wow that had to be the easiest math quiz I've ever taken!" Naruto exclaims while we get ready to leave Iruka's class.

"That's because I did all the hard problems for you, loser," I tell the beaming idiot.

"Well yeah," he responds. "Having someone else do all the hard stuff is what made it easy. But you know it still wasn't that bad. I probably could have managed to get a C on it by myself."

"I'm so glad you appreciate my hard work," I say sarcastically. "Next time you can do it yourself and appreciate your C."

As we head for the door, I suddenly feel myself falling. Thanks to my natural coordination and quick reflexes, I catch myself before I trip completely. I twist around to see what tripped me only to find myself face to face with Kankuro.

"Sorry Sasuke didn't see you there," he tells me. Even if I had considered believing his bull shit, the look of anger he has when he says this would make me think again. I don't know what his problem is, and I couldn't care less, so I turn around and ignore him. Catching up to Naruto, who had just noticed I wasn't behind him, I shrug off his questioning gaze.

We split up to drop our stuff off in our lockers. The two of us meet up again and resume our bantering all the way to the locker room. The only decent time to have P.E. is at the end of the day so you don't have to sit in class smelling like sweat afterwards. Our school's plumbing for the showers busted some time during my freshmen year and the administration doesn't seem to be in a hurry to fix it. Maybe we should get all the football players sit in their office after a day of practice.

After I get dressed I head for the gymnasium. Before I get through the door, I'm shouldered aside.

"Move it Uchiha," Kankuro sneers as he looks back at me while I glare holes into his head.

He is going to regret that. For once I'm going to look forward to class. Every two weeks we play a different sport. Supposedly, it's going to "increase the vitality of our youthful beings" or some crap like that. This week we are playing Dodgeball - the only game we play in P.E. that's point is focused around physical harm. I happen to be a very good Dodgeball player.

We've been playing Dodgeball for a week so the teams have already been decided. There are four teams and each team alternates playing against the other three. The one with the most overall wins at the end of the two weeks will be the winner.

"My Most Vibrant and Spirited Students! It is once again time to join forces with your Youthful and Esteemed Classmates in an Invigorating Game of Dodgeball." Gai, to the horror of all his students strikes his Sparkly Pose.

Thankfully, Lee has graduated so I don't have to endure the sight of him "crying manly tears at Gai's Youthful Display of Energy." It scares me that I can still hear him saying those exact words.

"Is it just me, or does Gai get crazier and crazier every class? I mean, really, how hard is it to say 'OK let's play Dodgeball now'?" Naruto asks as he walks up to me.

"Hn," I grunt in response. Scanning the crowd of our soon to be opponents I realize that Kankuro isn't on the team we're facing this time. Well that sucks. Oh well, at least now I get to warm up before handing him a resounding defeat. Something in the look he gave me when he shoved me is still sending warning signals telling me that he's going to be a problem.

"Hey Sasuke are you in there?" I swat the hand away that Naruto was waving in my face.

"Let's just get this over with. Kankuro's face has a date with a few large projectiles and I hate to keep him waiting."

Naruto looks at me in confusion, but hides it with a smile when he says, "Sure Sasuke, whatever you want. I'm all for hitting people with large projectiles and Kankuro's an ass."

The gym is split in half by a row of cones so that all four teams can play at once. In order to "Equally Rival our Strengths so we may correctly Test our Youthful Spirits against each other" (why can't I get the insanity out of my head?!) once one team has all its players knocked out, both games are over. The team with the most players left in the other game wins.

Usually we try and make the games last a while so that we don't have a lot of free time at the end of class. Gai has frightening ideas of what we can do for "fun" during extra free time. However, I'm in a hurry today.

Our team has fallen into a pattern that always leads to victory. The rest of our teammates provide Naruto and me with a steady supply of dodgeballs and the rest of the time they stay out of our way. Between the two of us we manage to take out more than half of the other team in about five minutes.

After we switch the teams we are facing, I am disappointed to find we still aren't against Kankuro's team. Well that just means I get to save the little weasel for last.

Finally, it is time to face Kankuro's team. Looking at the rest of his teammates for possible obstacles in reaching my intended target, I realize I don't know any of them. Ignoring the existence of people unimportant to me doesn't provide a lot of background knowledge on them. Being antisocial does occasionally have its setbacks. That's why I have Naruto.

Turning to my blond companion I ask, "Are any of these guys any good?"

"Geesh Sasuke, we've played them like three times before. Don't you remember?"

"I remember we beat them. That's all that I was interested in. Just answer the question." Naruto rolls his eyes at me.

"Well Kankuro always hides behind those two guys at the end there kinda like human shields," he says pointing. "The rest of the team isn't anything special."

"So all we have to do is get Kankuro out before he can hide behind his cronies?" I ask with a smirk.

"Yeah, piece of cake," Naruto answers with his own smirk. "Are you going to tell me what caused this hostility against him? I mean, I know that I've never been able to stand the guy, but you've only ever hated him by association."

"He pissed me off," I say curtly.

"Alright then. I'll take the left side and you take the right, 'kay?" I nod and he gets in position.

When the whistle is blown, signaling the start of the game, we each run to the line and grab a ball. In almost perfect synchronization we aim and throw. Two balls whiz through the air right on target. They hit Kankuro squarely on each side of his head at the same time. The force of the impact sends him flying to land on his ass about a foot away from where he had been standing. The shrill sound of a whistle blowing drowns out all other sound in the gym.

"Sasuke, Naruto, head shot. Take a bench."

The looks of indignation on our teammate's faces at losing their best players went ignored. Those losers could try fending for themselves for once. We walk side by side to the sidelines with Naruto laughing the whole way.

End Flashback

Naruto turns the volume knob so the music is barely audible. The sudden silence leaves my ears ringing. Turning to glance at him, I wonder what caused him to turn down the music, since I was sure I would have to endure it for the rest of the car ride.

"Hey…Sasuke?" he says hesitantly.

Realizing what he wants, I force myself not to sigh. Of course he wants to talk, Naruto always wants to talk; it's not in him to just let it go.

"Yeah?" I reply. Just because he wants to talk, doesn't mean I'm going to spontaneously develop touchy-feely-skills.

"I'm sorry," he says softly. Well that's not what I was expecting.

"What are you sorry for?" I ask, confused.

"For what happened with Kankuro," he responds as if it were obvious.

My grip on the steering wheel tightens until my knuckles turn white.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong." I say tersely.

"But if I wasn't…,"

"Just shut up," I interrupt. I pull the car over to the side of the road. This is important and I can't be distracted by driving. Turning in my seat, I grab Naruto's arm to get him to turn towards me.

"Look at me," I command while shaking his arm. He lifts his head, but his eyes don't meet mine.

"It's all my fault," he whispers.

"Damn it, look at me, idiot," I tell him again. This time his eyes meet mine and I can see the guilt. It pisses me off that he thinks he did something wrong.

"It isn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong," I repeat. "You aren't wrong. Don't let what that bastard said before count more than what I'm saying now. Do you think I would have lost it like that if I thought it was true?"

Flashback

"Oh man that was great!" Naruto says. "Did you see the look on his face? It was amazing!" We take a seat at an empty bench.

As I silently bask in my feeling of triumph, I search for our recent victim. He's about 10 feet away, being given a lecture about the Over-Exuberance of Youth. The sucker. Even from here I can see the bruises that are beginning to form on his face. Gai tells the rest of the class to get back to their games while he gets an ice pack.

Anger fills him as he spots me smirking at him. He begins to storm towards me and I nudge Naruto to alert him to the possible danger heading our way.

"You two think you're so special," he sneers.

"I'm going to assume that was supposed to be an insult," I reply smoothly. "I'm also going to assume you have a large number of potentially disarming insults. Instead of wasting my time listening to them all, how about you just skip to the part where you tell me what the fuck your problem is."

"You're my problem, smart ass. You're always giving all the answers to that dipshit," he says pointing behind me to Naruto, "and it's not fair to the rest of us who have to do it on our own."

"I can see how stupidity would be a problem for you, but how exactly is that my fault?"

His hands curl into fists at his side and the anger on his face turns to rage. Antagonizing him anymore is going to lead to a fight. Not that I'm worried about losing. He's just not worth having to deal with a suspension.

"Hey guys, let's try to calm down now," Naruto says walking forward to stand at my right. "We don't want to start a fight in the middle of class."

A dark light comes on in Kankuro's eyes when his gaze leaves me to focus on Naruto. I don't recognize the look, but instinctively I know I'm not going to like what he says next.

"Don't want me fighting Sasuke, huh? What's the matter? Don't want me ruining your boyfriend's pretty face?"

A growl rises from my throat. We'll see whose face gets ruined when I'm done. Before I can turn my thoughts into actions, a grip on my arm stops me. I glare at the hand, then up the arm to the person who it belongs to.

"Just let it go," Naruto says, his face carefully neutral. "Come on. Class is almost over, let's go change."

My anger is shouting at me to hit someone, but Naruto is pulling me towards the locker room. 'Let it go. Let it go. Let it go.' My silent mantra is the only thing keeping me from turning around.

"That's right you little faeries, walk away." Naruto's grip on me tightens and his pace quickens. 'LetitgoLetitgoLetitgo.' My mantra picks up speed. Kankuro isn't giving up though.

"Honestly Sasuke, I feel sorry for you. Everyone knows Naruto is a faggot, but it's a real shame he's passed it on to you." Fuck the mantra.

I don't remember turning around. I don't remember running up to Kankuro. I don't remember the first punches that sent him to the floor. All I remember is the burning fury rushing through my veins and a violent pattern of words and punches.

"Don't." Punch

"Ever." Punch

"Call." Punch

"Naruto." Punch

"That." Punch

"Again." Punch

"You." Punch

"Homophobic." Punch

"Asshole." Punch

The next thing I know, arms are wrapping around my chest from behind. They pull me upwards and backwards. I wouldn't care about that, except now I can't keep hitting my punching bag. I struggle, but I am still being dragged backwards so my legs aren't under me and I can't get leverage.

A bit of coherent thought comes back to me, briefly, and I realize that the person dragging me is saying something.

"…you thinking? Stop struggling already and let's go. If I have to drag your ass the whole way I will."

The anger that had been fueling me a moment before, is suddenly gone. I feel empty inside, like I have no energy left. My whole body goes limp. Naruto loosens his hold on me and I stand up next to him. The only thing I'm aware of is the roaring sound in my ears. I blink.

"…ome on, Sasuke. Snap out of it." Someone is shaking me. Looking around I see we're in the locker room. The roaring has dimmed to a rushing. I blink.

"…me you old hag. Something's wrong with Sasuke." We're standing in front of the principle's office. Naruto shouldn't call the principle a hag. In my arms are my regular clothes. I'm still wearing my gym clothes. There are a few specks of blood on the middle of my shirt. The rushing is now just a low hum.

This time I'm aware of the change of scenery when we enter Tsunade's office. I hear Naruto telling her again that something is wrong with me. They're both looking at me concerned. It occurs to me that my spacing out might be what's causing their worry.

"I'm fine," I tell them. Really, I am. The humming is almost gone now. "I need to change."

"The nurse's office is through there," Tsunade says pointing to a door to my left. "It's empty, so you can change."

As soon as I close the door behind me I hear Tsunade questioning Naruto and him telling her what happened. Whatever. Once I've changed, I throw my gym clothes into the trash. I always thought it was strange that Tsunade was both the school's principle and nurse, but I suppose it is convenient.

By the time I reenter the principle's office, the two occupants have finished talking about me. Tsunade is sitting behind her desk and Naruto is sitting in one of the chairs in front of it. They both have troubled looks on their faces. I take the seat next to Naruto and wait for one of them to say something.

"Sasuke, fighting is a very serious offence. You know that," Tsunade says grimly.

No really? I guess I just forgot my freshmen year where I spent almost as much time out of as school in it because of suspensions due mainly to fighting. However, I know I don't have to worry about anything this time.

"Who said I was fighting? I would never fight in school. Don't worry about it," I say with fake innocence.

"You started a fight in the middle of a gym full of witnesses. Not to mention the boy you left beaten on the ground. There won't be anything I can do when he reports it."

"That's why you don't have to worry about it. He won't want to admit getting the shit beat out of him and none of the others will say anything to contradict that."

"What about when the teachers come to me with complaints about a bruised student?"

I smirk. "Tell them the truth. We had a little accident playing dodgeball and accidentally threw some head shots. We were benched for it and everything."

Tsunade tightly closes her eyes and rests her forehead in the palm of her head.

"Fine. Go. Both of you just go. It's almost time for you to leave anyways."

We leave her office and head for our lockers. The hallways are empty since class hasn't ended yet. I stop in front of my locker.

"I'll meet you at the car," I say.

"OK," is Naruto's only reply as he leaves for his own locker.

End Flashback

"It's not like it never occurred to me that people would think that about us," I say.

"You mean that we're dating," responds Naruto.

"Yeah, that. It might have bothered me when you first told me you were bi, but that was years ago, so I'm used to it. We've talked about this already. I don't care what assumptions people make just because you're my best friend."

"Most guys would be upset at always being accused of being gay. You say you don't care, but how can it not bother you?"

"Look," I say, shifting in my seat. "I can count on one hand the number of people whose opinion actually matters to me. So when I say I don't care if other people think I'm gay I'm really saying that I don't care what other people think period. It's called tact – try it sometime."

Naruto grins. "I told you that, bastard."

"Take your own advice then, idiot," I say as I turn and pull onto the road again. Now that we're back to insulting each other I know everything is alright.

"So now that we're done caring what other people think, what are we going to do?" asks Naruto.

"First of all I never cared what other people thought, and second of all, we're going home to get ready for work. If we miss any more days we're going to get fired," I answer.

"Aw, who cares? I'm getting tired of working there anyways," Naruto whines.

"Well then, as soon as you find us somewhere else to work, we can quit."

"How about we quit first and then find somewhere else to work?" Naruto asks hopefully.

"We have to have a job to have co-op. The deal we made was we can switch jobs as many times as we want so long as we have a job," I explain.

"Well if we don't care what people think, then why do we care what the teachers think?"

"Because the teachers can make us drop out of co-op and take a real class. Do you want to spend more time in school?"

"No," Naruto sulks.

"Don't complain then. Compromise is the price of freedom after all."

--------------------------------------------

So that's it. What did you think? It's all Sasuke's POV, which frustrated me because I had wanted to keep switching between his and Naruto's like in the first chapter.

Note to self: you can't switch pov during flashbacks - don't have so many long flashbacks.

Self to note: But I really like flashbacks! It's one of the best ways to give background information.

Note to self: Whatever. I'm not arguing with you about this.

Self to note: pout You're mean.

Note to reader: Please review!


	3. Work

This chapter was delayed due to the fact that I had to read the entire Anita Blake series. Once I start reading I'm dead to the real world.

Warnings: Suggestive physical contact between males.

In case you didn't know this will be a SasuNaru eventually so if you don't like that you should stop reading now. If you do like that, be patient - I'm trying to build their relationship from friends to more than friends right now.

* * *

Work. Why does it have to be so boring? Well, okay maybe a book store isn't the best place to find excitement. Sasuke would kill me if he found out, but I am currently sitting in the middle of the only reason I want to work here. The manga section. It's amazing! Even the bigger, mainstream bookstores don't have such a huge collection. Plus, I get an employee discount so I don't go broke as quickly as I did before we started working here.

Now for the bad part. Working in a book store is boring. I know I already said that, but I don't think I made myself clear. All I get to do is stare at books, more books, and people who are buying books. Beyond boring. I'm not sure if all the manga in the world is worth it. So if we're going to be quitting this job soon, I want to read as many manga as I can.

As soon as we got here, I took a bunch of boxes filled with manga from the back room and carried them here. Then I pulled all the ones I wanted to read from the shelves and stacked them in piles next to the boxes around me. Now I'm sitting surrounded by piles of manga so high that I can barely see over the tops.

"Hey idiot. Get off your ass and help me," Sasuke says from the aisle behind me. I turn my head and can see his legs through the gaps in the shelves.

I would tell him to make me, but I know it will annoy him more if I ignore him instead. I turn my attention back to the manga in my hands. I pretend to anyways. Really, I listen to Sasuke's footsteps as he makes his way over to the aisle I'm sitting in. When his steps abruptly stop as he turns the corner and sees me, I hold back a snicker.

"Oh, Naruto?" Sasuke calls in a sickly sweet voice.

"Hang on Sasuke, I'm kinda busy right now," I reply, not looking up from the book I'm holding. I can picture the vein twitching on his forehead. Well if you could actually see the veins in Sasuke's forehead. You can't; I've looked.

"I hate to interrupt you when you are so very busy, but would you mind telling me what you think you are doing?" he asks in a carefully calm voice that is a telltale sign that he's about to blow.

I glance up at him to see his pissed expression and say, "Let's see, I'm in a bookstore, I have a book, I'm looking at the inside of the book, and when I get to the end of the page I turn to the next one. I do believe they call that reading." He's going to crack, I just know it.

"I see. Congratulations on finally learning how," he says with a smile that borders on a being a sneer. So maybe it will take a little more to push him over the edge.

"I'm glad you understand. Since I'm so busy, would you mind cleaning up for me? I'm done with all those in that box behind me."

"Oh sure, anything you want."

Well that's not the response I was expecting. Maybe Sasuke has decided to give up his bastardly ways? Yeah right, and Kakashi's going to give up porn. I watch him as he walks behind me and picks up the box I had pointed to.

"This one?" he asks while tilting his head slightly and giving me a scary smile.

"Uh huh," I answer suspiciously with a slow nod.

"Oh good."

His creepy smile widens slightly. In that moment I realize what he has planned and I hastily cover my head with my arms in a last ditch effort to protect myself. Then he dumps all the books in the box on top of my head.

"Sasuke!" I wail. Have you ever had a box full of manga dropped on you head? It's not fun.

"Once you're done putting all this stuff back where it belongs, come help me at the front desk." He walks back to the front of the store, leaving me to clean up.

* * *

"You are such a jerk," I tell Sasuke as I walk behind him to get to the register at the other side of the counter. As I pass, I shove him in the back causing him to drop some of the change he was counting.

He hands the change to the lady in front of him with an apologetic smile. Most people don't know it, but Sasuke can fake a smile better than anyone I know. It's how he gets out of trouble so often.

"You are such a moron," he tells me.

He sends a punch toward my arm, but I was expecting it and dodge it by skipping back around the desk to the front. Not giving up, he hops over the desk in one quick motion and shoots forward to grab my wrist. I turn my body to try and pull out of his grip, but he comes behind me and wraps his other arm around my mid section. I bend over and put all my weight on his hold to try and make him let go. He braces a leg between mine to get better leverage. I squirm in his grasp, but he brings the hand that is still holding my wrist up across my chest.

"Dammit Sasuke! Let me go."

"Not until you give me what I want," he responds.

"Let me go!" I repeat while renewing my struggles.

"Maybe I need to convince you?," he asks next to my ear. The arm around my middle slides lower so his hand is ghosting over the spot below my ribs. I still.

"Sasuke, don't," I say in a breathy whisper. He lets out a small laugh that I feel across my cheek.

"Sometimes pleasure is better at persuasion than pain."

"What happened to working? Someone could come in any second."

"Then I'll make this quick."

"No don't!" I shout, but it's too late. My uncontrollable convulsions, caused by the pangs of pleasure shooting from where Sasuke's fingers are touching me, causes us to tumble to the floor. Somehow, Sasuke manages to get me to land on my back with him straddling me. If I could form a coherent thought I might have appreciated it. As it is, it's taking all my concentration and both my hands over my mouth to keep from making a sound. I won't give Sasuke the satisfaction.

"Am I interrupting something?" a monotone voice asks. Sasuke's hand mercifully stops.

"Gaara!" I shout in happiness to my savior. I try to move toward him, but am stopped when Sasuke's grabs my arms and pins them to the sides of my head.

"I'm almost done, then he's all yours," he says to Gaara, who nods.

"What am I supposed to do in the mean time?" Gaara asks.

"Well you can watch if you want. This wont take long."

Looking down at me, Sasuke pulls my arms closer to each other so he can pin them with one hand. Then he resumes his previous actions. Without my hands covering my mouth I can't stop the sound his touch causes.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laugh hysterically. "OK..haha...OK...I..haha...I give...hahaha...up," I manage to get out between bursts of laughter and wheezing.

"Tell me you're sorry, Naruto," Sasuke says tauntingly.

"Hahaha...I'm...haha...sor..haha...so-rry," I manage to get out. Finally, the tickling stops.

With a self-satisfied smirk, Sasuke gets off of me and walks around the counter. I turn on my side and bring my knees up to my chest in an act of belated self-defense. I'm still trying to catch my breath when Gaara looms over me.

"Need a hand?" he asks.

"Give me a sec," I moan as I look up at him with a suitably pathetic look on my face. He gives me a look that says he isn't moved.

"Don't be such a baby," he tells me as he reaches down and yanks me upwards.

"Waahh," I protest as he forces me to stand. "I don't know why I put up with you sadistic bastards. I'm just too nice."

I jump up to sit on the counter and turn so one leg is folded on its surface while the other is hanging down the side. Sasuke is behind the counter standing in on one side and Gaara moves to stand in front of him at the front of the counter on my other side.

"Uchiha," Gaara says, inclining his head toward Sasuke by way of greeting

"Hn," Sasuke grunts in reply. It's always a bad thing when the two most untalkative people I know start talking to each other.

"You beat Kankuro up," says Gaara. Was that supposed to be a question or a statement? Wait a minute. Is Gaara going to be upset that Sasuke kicked his brother's ass?

"Yes," replies Sasuke. That's all you have to say?!

"Why?" That was definitely a question and not a yes or no one. Defend yourself Sasuke!

"He deserved it." That's not a reason Sasuke!

"He's an ass. Good job." It's like these two speak a whole other language.

"I just don't get you guys sometimes. Is that all you have to say to each other?" I shout in exasperation.

My only answer is two identical blank stares. They look at one another and smirk. I know that smirk. It's a patronizing smirk. I hate that smirk. Gaara turns to talk to me.

"My brother thinks he can stop me being gay by beating up every other gay guy in the world so that I can't date them. He wouldn't dare try beating me up."

"God forbid I did something to actually deserve his grudge against me," I respond sarcastically.

"Kankuro said the two of you are dating. That's not true," says Gaara with a dark gleam in his eyes. I'm going to assume that last was a question.

I know I said before that I didn't do anything to deserve Kankuro hating me, but that wasn't quite true. Gaara has a crush on me. I didn't really do anything, but he blames me for "perverting his little brother." Nevermind that Gaara was plenty perverted before I met him.

"I've told you before we're not," I says soothingly.

I look at Sasuke to gauge his reaction. He usually likes to do something to make Gaara jealous, but I don't think that would be a good idea now since I'm trying to convince him that we're just friends. Again. Gaara has a tendency to get jealous easily. He tends to forget that I don't belong to him. Unfortunately, Sasuke looks like he's about to do something unhelpful.

"You don't have to prove anything to Gaara," Sasuke says. "I think it's obvious what our relationship is, don't you?"

Sasuke's arms are suddenly around my middle. With a squawk I am pulled across the counter so that my back is leaning on his chest. His hands are folded together on my stomach and I feel the weight of his head on my shoulder. I can just picture the look he is giving Gaara.

I expect Gaara to protest or at least to come to my defense. Wishful thinking, I know.

"Well if you don't mind being so close to someone who is just your friend...," Gaara trails off. He moves in between my legs and leans forward with his arms braced on either side of me. "We are friends, right Naruto?" he asks in a low tone.

Eep.

"I can feel you blushing," Sasuke mummers next to my cheek. "Your skins getting hot."

"It's cute," adds Gaara.

That's it. I've had enough of this game. I really wish Gaara would stop looking at me like he's trying to decide whether to eat me now or save me for later. And what's with Sasuke? He's never so big on physical contact unless it's just the two of us.

"Come on guys, let go," I say in a voice that manages not to sound too whiny

I start to struggle against my two captors. They both move to hold me still, but they get in each others way. They glare at each other.

"I don't like sharing," Sasuke says.

"Neither do I," replies Gaara.

They then proceed to play tug-a-war with my body. The whole time I yell threats of what I will do to both of them if they don't let go right now.

"Well this is an inspiring image," says the last person I want to see me like this. "Although your language leaves something to be desired."

"J-Jiraiya," I stutter. Both Sasuke and Gaara step away from me so fast that I lose my balance and fall off the edge of the counter.

"I've never written about an all male threesome before," says our boss with a leer.

"That's not...we weren't...you better not...you...you perverted old man!" I finally shout.

"I'll change the names of course and the ages, but it could be a best seller," Jiraiya continues undeterred.

I look to Sasuke and Gaara for help. This is all their fault so they better damn well fix it. Gaara looks vaguely horrified, but Sasuke looks unconcerned. Doesn't he realize the danger we're in?!

Jiraiya is still prattling on about the various possibilities of his new story (that last one isn't physically possible!) when Sasuke says, "Iruka would murder you."

That shuts the old perv up. "Well then, I think it's about time you two got back to work don't you? And you, young sir. If you aren't going to buy something I would ask you to leave my employees alone." With that he turns and returns to the back room where he does whatever perverted old men do in their back rooms.

Once again I am pulled up to my feet by Gaara.

"Come on Naruto," he says. "Help me find a book."

He drags me through the aisles of bookcases until we get to the back of the store. When we stop he lets my arm go he is still a bit too close for comfort. I take a step back to get some personal space, but he comes closer. I don't intend to get trapped again today.

"What did you want Gaara? You always come in here and you've never wanted to buy a book before."

"Go to the dance with me," says Gaara.

It takes my brain a moment to catch up with the blunt question. Or not quite question. It's hard to tell with Gaara.

"Do you have something against question marks?"

This causes Gaara to scowl at me. I know I'm avoiding answering him, but I'm still trying to figure out what to say.

"Will you go to the dance with me, Naruto?" he asks again.

"Um, welll..." It's not that I don't like Gaara. I do. He's a good friend, but I just don't see him as more than a friend. I don't want to give him the wrong idea if I say yes.

"He's already got a prior commitment. He can't go with you Gaara. Isn't that right Naruto?" Sasuke says from behind me.

Usually I don't like it when he sneaks up on me like that, but I'll forgive him since he bailed me out. I'd almost forgotten about the mistle toe thing.

"This doesn't concern you, Uchiha," Gaara growls.

"It does when I'm the one he's priorly committed to," Sasuke snaps back as he walks up to us. "Thanks to the idiot we're going to be kissing the whole night."

Once again I'm being dragged, only this time to the front of the store. Apparently Sasuke wants me back at the counter. Anger, jealousy, and disbelief war on Gaara's face.

"It's not what it sounds like!" I shout back to him giving Sasuke a dark look for making things worse. We get to the counter and Sasuke continues to drag me behind it.

"Stay," he commands as he releases me.

I turn to find one pissed off looking Gaara storming in our direction.

"I want an explanation," Gaara demands. Before he can say more Sasuke moves to his side and starts ushering him forcibly to the door.

"Naruto had the smart idea that it would be fun to kiss all night at the dance and there is no way I'm letting him get out of it to leave me all on my own. So sorry to ruin your plans, but know that you're not alone in wishing Naruto were less of an idiot."

The two of them reach the door to the outside and Sasuke says sarcastically, "Have a nice day." With that and a smirk he pushes Gaara outside and slams the door behind him.

Sasuke turns towards me with an evil look on his face. "Now let's get back to work."

* * *

Thanks to Talon for talking me through writting the end of this chapter. What would I do without you? Oh wait, I know...I would stay sane until I died of boredom.

Thanks also to those of you who reviewed this fic. I really appreciate it.

Reviews make me happy.


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